The Traveling Slayer
by Eyriegirl345
Summary: Kagome almost dies in a raging river, she is rescued by the last demon slayer. But there's more to him that meets the eye. Most characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. But OCs belong to me. Rate M in later chapters.
1. A Watery Death

Chapter 1: A Watery Death

Kagome breathed heavily as she stopped in the middle of the forest. She found herself lost after running away from Inuyasha and Kikyo. She witnessed Inuyasha confessing his love to Kikyo. But why? Why? He told her that he loved her, not Kikyo.

Flashback:

_"Kikyo, I love you." Inuyasha said as he held Kikyo in his arms._

_ "I love you, too Inuyasha." Kikyo said, "But what about my reincarnation?"_

_ "She's just a shard detector. That's all she is to me. You're the one I love, Kikyo." Inuyasha said. Then he kissed her as Kikyo wrapped her arms around his neck. Kagome stood behind a tall tree as she listened to his confession. She felt like her heart broke when she heard his confession. It seemed worse when the Shikon jewel broke into pieces. Without looking back, Kagome ran into the woods. She didn't care that the branches scraped her arms and legs as heavy tears went down her cheeks. She ran and ran until she tripped._

She couldn't understand him. He only thought of her as a shard detector. That's all she was to him. After everything they've been through, he was still in love with the priestess who pinned him to a tree and who is also trying to kill her to get the other half of her soul. She thought that he finally loved her for who she is, not as his past love's reincarnation. But, it turned out to be a lie. All the kind words of his love for her: lies. That's all he ever was: a lying, self-centered, cruel, over possessive hanyou!

After she got up, she noticed that she was very far from the camp. She felt somewhat guilty of not going back to the camp. But she knew if she did go back, she would have to face Inuyasha. More tears formed in her eyes and fell down her cheeks. Suddenly, she felt an evil aura coming towards her. She turned around and saw a rat demon leaped towards her. She quickly drew her arrow and aimed it at the demon. The arrow hit the demon's heart and instantly turned to ash. Kagome breathed a sigh of relief at that moment. Then she felt a even bigger amount of evil aura coming towards her. She saw a numerous pairs of red eyes staring at her. Without a second thought, Kagome turned and ran.

She could hear the rat demons behind her. Even with her arrows and reiki, the number of them was too many. When she looked behind, she could see all the demons jumping over one another while trying to get to her. But when she looked ahead, she saw herself at the edge of a cliff and down below was a huge raging river. She looked down at the river and then glanced at the rat demons behind her. She knew that the rats would kill her if they caught her and she also knew that she would die in the raging river below her. She closed her eyes and jumped.

The cold wind hit her face as she landed into the river. What she didn't expect when falling into the river was that it had rapid freezing waters. She felt the rushing waters push her back and forth between the rocks. She was pushed underneath the water a few times. When she finally came up for air, she saw the edge of the fall. There were no rocks or large branches nearby that could help her get out of this river. Suddenly, she felt the wind push against her as she fell into the waters below.

* * *

"Inuyasha." Sango said.

"What?" Inuyasha asked.

"Where's Kagome?" Sango asked.

"I thought she was with you guys." Inuyasha said.

"She went to look for you, Inuyasha." Miroku said. Shippo walked over to Inuyasha and jumped onto his shoulder. Then he sniffed his shoulder and eyes widened.

"You were with Kikyo, weren't you?!" Shippo asked in an angry tone.

"Yeah, so what?" Inuyasha asked.

"How could you, Inuyasha?! You said that you would be faithful to Lady Kagome!" Miroku said. Inuyasha found himself surrounded by hateful glares that were pointed at him. Even Kirara was giving him a hateful glare.

"A-Anyway, let's go find her. She probably hasn't gotten that far." Inuyasha said, trying to change the task at hand. If they didn't find her, Sango with definitely hit him hard on the head with her Hiraikotsu. Probably hard enough to knock him unconscious for a week. That will probably be just as worse as Kagome's "sits". Actually, Kagome's "sits" are even worse than Hiraikotsu.

* * *

Inuyasha's body stiffened when he found Kagome's scent on the edge of a cliff. He saw a river below. He began to wonder what lead her to this cliff. He saw strange footprints on the ground that were leading to Kagome. Something was chasing her. But who was chasing her?

"I smell rats." Shippo said.

"Rats?" Miroku asked.

"Rat demons." Shippo said, "They are very territorial and they make sure that they stay away from humans." Shippo said.

"Are you saying that rat demons drove her to the edge?" Sango asked.

"I believe so, Sango." Miroku said. Heavy tears began falling down Sango's cheeks as she collapsed onto the ground.

"KAGOME!" Sango screamed and then sobbed into her hands. Miroku kneeled down and pulled Sango into his arms. He held her tightly as she sobbed into his chest. Then he glared at Inuyasha with hatred in his eyes. Inuyasha flinched when he saw Miroku glaring at him. He never saw this kind of look from Miroku before.

"Mamma." Shippo said in teary voice. Inuyasha looked down at Shippo who had tears falling down his cheeks as he sat near the cliff. Inuyasha's heart began to ache. He was the reason why Kagome ran and fell off the cliff.

"Let's go to where the fall ends and see if she's there." Inuyasha said, trying to give them hope. But it didn't seem to work.

"Inuyasha, no one could survive those waters considering how cold it is and how fast the current is." Miroku said, "Let's face it, Inuyasha. Kagome...she's gone." Miroku said, tears falling down his cheeks while Sango continued sobbing into Miroku's chest. At that moment, Inuyasha felt like his heart broke into a million pieces.


	2. Rescued From The River

Chapter 2: Rescued From The River

Kagome felt something warm wrapped around her as she began to wake up. She saw a fire going with fish cooking. She slowly tried to get up. But then a soaring pain came into her body. A pair of arms held her before she fell back down onto the blanket she was laying on.

"Careful, you should lay down before you get into any more pain." A male voice said as he laid her back down. Kagome looked up and stared at a young man in front of her. He had long inky black hair tied in a low ponytail and grey colored eyes. He was wearing a white kimono and a black hakama. There was a sword strapped around his waist. Kagome felt a strange aura coming from it. It felt pure, but powerful as well. But the young man in front of her had a strange, yet pure aura around him as well. Somehow, she felt at ease with him near her.

"Who are you?" Kagome asked.

"I'm Takato." Takato said, "Who are you?"

"I'm Kagome." Kagome said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Kagome." Takato said.

"Likewise, Takato." Kagome said. Then she heard a meow near the bag she was using for a pillow. She looked down and saw a nekomata sitting near the bag. Kagome was about to ask if that nekomata was Kirara. Then she noticed the differences between Kirara and the nekomata sitting in front of her. It had black stripes under its eyes, big black marks on its tail, no stripes on its feet, and the fur around its neck was all black.

"Oh, and this is my friend Aoshi." Takato said as Aoshi jumped onto his shoulder.

"He's a nekomata, right?" Kagome asked.

"Yeah, I found this little guy while I was traveling. He was a very small kitten when I saw him getting attack by rat demons." Takato said. Aoshi meowed as Takato scratched his ears. He began purring at the sensation.

"By the way, how did you end up in the river, Kagome?" Takato asked.

Kagome was silent at that moment. She couldn't tell him that she was the Shikon Miko. She knew that you can't tell every person you run into that you're the Shikon Miko. Suddenly, her stomach growled. To Kagome's relief, she didn't have to answer Takato's question.

"How about we eat first and then we'll talk." Takato said.

"Okay." Kagome said as he handed a fish on a stick to Kagome and another to Aoshi.

* * *

After eating the fish that Takato handed to her, Kagome explained on how she fell in the river. She told him that she was traveling with a group of friends and that she was in love with the leader. The leader confessed to her that he loved her, but then she saw him with his former lover. Then he told his former lover that he was in love with _her_ and not Kagome. She ran away from him and ended up in the middle of the woods. Then she was chased by rat demons and jumped into the river. Well, she left out the detail of the person who broke her heart. She only mention him as a human and she left out his name.

"So you're the Shikon Miko, Kagome?" Takato asked. Kagome's breath stopped.

"H-How did you know?" Kagome asked, nervously. Takato took out something from his sleeve and handed it to her. It was her jar of jewel shards!

"These are…!" Kagome said, shocked.

"The Shikon jewel shards, right?" Takato asked.

"Y-Yes." Kagome said, "How did you get these?"

"They dropped from your neck when I was putting my sleeping yukata on you." Takato said.

"What?!" Kagome said. She noticed that she was no longer in her school uniform. She was wearing a white sleeping yukata.

"You probably think I'm a pervert, but I had to get you into something dry or else you would've gotten more sick." Takato said, calmly.

"Yeah, I'm sorry...and thank you." Kagome said, blushing. He was right. If she had stayed in her wet clothes she would gotten hypothermia and might possibly be dead by now. She guessed that he did help her. Then she noticed the bandage around her left arm and right leg. She somehow knew that he went through a lot of trouble of taking care of her.

"Don't mention it." Takato said, smiling at her.

"Are you a traveling warrior, Takato?" Kagome asked.

"No." Takato said, "I'm a traveling demon slayer."

"A...demon...slayer?" Kagome asked, shocked at what Takato told her.

"Yes." Takato said. Kagome couldn't believe of what she just heard. Takato is a demon slayer. But what's he doing here? Did he already find out what happened to the village?

"Takato, do you already know…" Kagome began to say.

"...that all of the demon slayers have been murdered?" Takato finished Kagome's question.

"Yes, I know." Takato said. Kagome could see the sadness in Takato's grey eyes. They looked a rain storm was about to fall. She saw his left hand tighten around the hilt of his sword.

"I should have been there. Then I would have been able to save them." Takato said, tears falling down his cheeks. Not knowing what came over her, she walked over and wrapped her arms around Takato. Takato stiffened and then wrapped his arms around Kagome while he cried into her neck.

Kagome could feel Takato's wet tears on her neck as he held her close to him. He was trembling as well. She didn't know the right words to calm Takato's heart. But she knew that he must felt extremely guilty for not being there when the village was attacked. She slowly rubbed her hands on his back, trying to ease his pain. It was the only thing she could do at this moment.

"Thank you, Kagome." Takato said.

"You're welcome, Takato." Kagome said. Then Takato released her. They stared at each other until Aoshi jumped onto Takato's shoulder and meowed. They turned away from each other at the same time with blushes on their cheeks.

"A-Anyway, why don't you get some rest? We'll head out when you feel ready to travel." Takato said, nervously.

"Good idea." Kagome said. Suddenly, she saw a huge fire appear and when it died down, she saw a full grown two tailed neko demon standing next Takato.

"Aoshi is able to transform?" Kagome asked.

"Yeah, I discovered that he could after a few years that I've taken him under my wing." Takato said. Aoshi walked over to Kagome and picked up Takato's backpack with his teeth. Then walked over and gave it to Takato. Aoshi walked back and laid down next to Kagome. She laid her head on Aoshi's stomach and he started purring as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Takato watched the young girl fall asleep next to Aoshi. To Takato, she looked beautiful while the light of the orange and red flames outlined her face. Even though he had just met Kagome, he could tell that she was a kind-hearted, yet fiery spirited girl. But her heart and soul sounded broken. He couldn't understand why her former lover had chosen his old flame over a beautiful woman like Kagome. From his point of view, her former lover was an insensitive, cruel, and very small minded young man. If he ever comes across him, he'll learn the meaning of pain. Excruciating pain. He looked at the sleeping Kagome once more and then looked up in the midnight sky.

"Did you lead her to me, Amaterasu?" Takato asked himself as he looked up at the stars.


End file.
